All,

I'm building a model of the (late) Mars Climate Orbiter. I have been unable to find a good clear picture of the science deck. Anybody know of any?

My specific questions are these:
What does the flight ready (mounted, insulated, etc.) Mars Color Imager look like? (I have been to the Malin site. There is some good info, but no pictures)
What color was the insulation on the battery? Black? Gold?

Thanks much for any guidance.

Art

MARCI had no blankets of any kind, so it looked exactly like the picture at http://www.msss.com/all_projects/mars-clim...biter-marci.php -- most of the external surfaces were clear-anodized aluminum, and the center housing sections were painted with white thermal control paint.

The pictures at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Climate_Orbiter are the best I know of that could be publicly released but they don't show the blanket configuration very well. IIRC correctly, most of the nadir deck was blanketed with black Kapton, but the battery louvers were covered with silver FEP (shiny tape.)

I think there was a photo on the cover of AW&ST but I don't have a copy readily available.

Thanks for information!

I have one more question. Is there any exposed cabling from the batteries of these spacecraft?

Thanks again.

Art

Probably, but I don't remember the details. Most of it was probably under the blankets.

The official NASA model of MCO, which we have one of, has essentially no details on the nadir deck.

My last look at MCO was at Pad 17A, lying on my stomach looking through a little hatch in the side of the fairing with a gale of air conditioning blowing in my face. But it was dark in there, and it's been a long time.